ABC’s new version of Battle of the Network Stars has one thing the original didn’t: nostalgia value.

Twenty performers who participated in the specials that ran from 1976 to 1988 are among the 100 competitors from 14 past and current TV series in the new weekly edition of the celebrity athletic competition (Thursday, 9 ET/PT).

For Willie Aames, 56, who competed in 1979 while starring in Eight Is Enough, returning to Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., site of the original edition, was “nostalgic and bittersweet. … The first thing I thought of was (late Eight star) Dick Van Patten, (who) was always our team captain. I made sure I spent a few minutes remembering Dick."

As TV has changed since the 1970s, so has the structure of Battle. The original featured big TV stars, including Telly Savalas (Kojak), Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) and Mike Farrell (M*A*S*H), from top-rated hits on the three broadcast networks.

With TV now fragmented, and a less cooperative relationship among broadcast networks leery about sharing their actors with rivals, the new version primarily features cast members from current shows on Disney-owned networks, including ABC, Freeform and Disney Channel, along with stars of past series.

The stars are divided into 20, five-member teams, with two — one clad in blue and the other in red — competing each week. The opening episode features TV sitcom stars (Perfect Strangers’ Bronson Pinchot, Roseanne’s Tom Arnold, Full House’s Dave Coulier, The Goldbergs’ AJ Michalka and Growing Pains' Tracey Gold) against TV kids (Blossom’s Joey Lawrence, High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu, Modern Family’s Nolan Gould and TheFacts of Life’s Kim Fields and Lisa Whelchel).

Whelchel, 54, remembers fans watching all the stars swim, run and kayak when she competed in 1984.

With just 10 competitors on a given day, “what was nice about this one was the intimacy of it,” she says. “I enjoyed the bonding of the team. When (team members) have gone through things that other people haven’t and then you meet them, there’s a sense of understanding.”

Whelchel enjoyed competing, but her attitude about it has changed over the years. “Hopefully by this age, you realize it really doesn’t matter that much.”

Classic events, including the obstacle course and dunk tank, return as the show tries “to recapture the spirit of the original,” executive producer Andrew Glassman says. “We’re trying to play more sports, more games in each episode. … It’s the same track, the same pool. Being there definitely added a lot in terms of summoning up old memories.”

Willie Aames, who appeared on 'Battle of the Network Stars' while a cast member on 'Eight Is Enough,' tries his hand at archery in the ABC revival.(Photo: Byron Cohen, ABC)

The new TV climate changed the competition from the days when ABC, CBS and NBC were the only players battling for TV primacy, Aames says.

“It was friendlier than it used to be,” he says. “When you only had our three networks, (it) was sort of an extension of the Nielsen ratings. If you weren’t doing well in the Nielsens, you took it out on your competition on the battlefield.”

Although the irrepressible Howard Cosell is irreplaceable as Battle's announcer, ABC has turned to sports pros at Disney cousin ESPN, tapping Mike Greenberg and Joe Tessitore as hosts and Cassidy Hubbarth and Cari Champion as sideline reporters. Team captains include Super Bowl champion DeMarcus Ware and MMA fighter and Olympian Ronda Rousey.

Whelchel revels in the memory of Cosell interviewing her after a winning play in the earlier competition. As with other past Battle moments, such as the hotly contested foot race between Gabe Kaplan and Robert Conrad that became a reality TV highlight, its significance may need explaining for younger viewers.

“I caught a pretty cool pass in the end zone, and he interviewed me afterward,” she says. “My kids don’t know how cool that is, but my dad, at the time, was sure impressed.”